Chennai– A Coimbatore couple, who had posted an advertisement for renting out their house, lost Rs 5.8 lakh to a fraudster.
S. Kalaiselvi from Madukkarai, Coimbatore, said in a complaint to the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCCRP) that she had posted an advertisement to rent out their home in an online portal in January.
On January 22, a person contacted her husband Selvaraj, saying that he was an officer with the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and that he wanted to take the house on rent and move in as early as possible.
Selvaraj informed him that they would take six months’ rent amount as security deposit following which the caller sent a link, claiming that it was the link to transfer the money.
When Selvaraj clicked the link and entered his bank account details, he lost Rs 99,500. The family was shocked and Kalaisevli immediately called the person, who said that it must have been a technical error and sent another link, stating that he would send six months’ rent as well as the money ‘accidentally’ transferred to Selvaraj’s account.
The woman in the complaint stated that the caller asked them to install an app and then enter an OTP and when the couple did so, they lost Rs 4.99 lakh from Selvaraj’s account in several installments. After that, the caller disappeared.
The police are investigating the matter after registering a case under Section 420 of IPC and 66D of the IT Act.
The police also appealed to the people not to share their bank account details, PIN number, or OTP with anyone to prevent such frauds. (IANS)
